Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives

Christopher Gergen, Gregg Vanourek

"An inspirational and practical guide for anyone who wants to incorporate the dynamic skills of entrepreneurs into their own lives and work.

A new generation of "life entrepreneurs" is emerging: people who apply their vision, talents, creativity, and energy not only to their work but to their entire lives, changing the world for themselves and those around them. In this book, successful entrepreneurs Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek draw on numerous interviews with fifty-five leading entrepreneurs worldwide as well as the wisdom of multiple thought leaders to provide vivid examples, moving vignettes, concrete frameworks, and practical strategies for revving up our work and play through entrepreneurial leadership. This book starts by providing strategies for integrating life, work, and purpose and ends by capturing the implications of the current entrepreneurial boom for our workplaces, learning institutions, communities, and families.

Christopher Gergen (Washington, D.C.) is a founding partner of New Mountain Ventures, co-founder and chairman of SMARTHINKING, Adjunct Professor and Director of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative at Duke University, and a life-long entrepreneur,

Gregg Vanourek (Thornton, CO) is a founding partner of New Mountain Ventures, former CEO of Vanourek Consulting Solutions, and former Senior Vice President of School Development for K12 Inc."

UNDERSTANDING LIFE ENTREPRENEURSHIP 15 going or the drive to figure it out. With luck, their voyage can lead to interesting adventures and learning experiences that they can draw on later. Mary Cutrufello is a Yale graduate turned rock star. She is a dynamic and explosive singer, songwriter, and guitar-playing virtuoso, with a unique blend of rock, blues, funk, and honkytonk. In the course of her notable musical career, she released several albums and toured the world, but was suddenly

we can only fly by embracing each other. —LUCIANO DE CRESCENZO c05.indd 92 1/9/08 2:47:06 AM Chapter Six Developing Goals and Strategies Coming out of college, Rob Glaser was fascinated with the intersection of media, communications, and technology. Two summers earlier, he had taken an internship with IBM. That was the summer, as it happened, that IBM launched the world’s first personal computer (PC), giving Rob a front-row seat at the dawn of a new era in technology. Believing that the PC

again that life entrepreneurs gain great encouragement, wisdom, perspective, strength, and (sometimes badly needed) humility from their life partners. This was true for David Carmel of StemCyte: “When you have a strong connection with one thing in your life,” he says, “you notice when it is missing in other parts of your life, and you want it more. If you are in a ho-hum job or relationship, it’s not obvious what you are missing. But when you are really wowed by your relationship, you begin to

in those conversations to truly convey not only a passion for this but the fact that we had really done our homework and that we were serious.” Will scrapped his plans for studying abroad to focus on the magazine. After publishing a couple of issues on campus, they were ready to make the leap to national newsstands. Through their budding network, they made contacts with independent distributors, negotiated test markets, and landed meetings with Borders and Barnes & Noble. Then their big break

during what has been called our “second half ”—a midlife transition, retirement, or another realization that big changes are needed. Examples of personal reinvention abound. Consider what Betty Ford did with her life after battling addiction—not to mention Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton after their presidencies, Ronald Reagan after his acting career, and Al Gore’s transition into environmental advocacy. Consider Paul Newman’s transition from acting to charitable work or Clint Eastwood’s transition